Lessons from Denmark: taxing foods doesn’t trim waistlines – it drives consumers to greener pastures
Lessons from Denmark: taxing foods doesn’t trim waistlines – it drives consumers to greener pastures
Does the government have any business taxing foods it deems unhealthy? That was the status quo in Denmark until recently, when the country got rid of its controversial fat tax. This nanny-state policy, originally put in place about a year ago, increased taxes on all foods with a saturated fat content of above 2.3 percent. Authorities...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Home rule repealed in Westmont, rejected in 4 other communities
Home rule repealed in Westmont, rejected in 4 other communities
Many local voters didn’t realize it, but residents of Westmont, Ill., made history during last week’s election. By a vote of 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent, Westmont became the first Illinois community to repeal a municipality’s home rule power in 29 years. The last repeal happened in Rockford in 1983. Westmont automatically became a home rule...
By Brian Costin
The irony of Cook County’s 2013 budget
The irony of Cook County’s 2013 budget
Taxes are about to go up again on many items for Cook County residents under the county’s 2013 budget. The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a $2.95 billion budget for fiscal year 2013 by a landslide 16-1 vote last week. The budget includes a series of new revenue initiatives– a $1 per pack tax...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Teen unemployment in Illinois: the toll of the Great Recession and minimum wage
Teen unemployment in Illinois: the toll of the Great Recession and minimum wage
THE PROBLEM Only 27 percent of teens in Illinois had jobs last year – the lowest Illinois teen employment rate in the 42 years this data has been collected. The figures were worst for African American teens in Chicago, where only 10 percent had jobs. As the graphic shows, the Great Recession clobbered teens with...
By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner
City of Chicago joins with special interests to drive out business
City of Chicago joins with special interests to drive out business
Uber – the maker of a popular smartphone application that allows you to summon a black car, taxi, or SUV with the push of a button – is under fire from regulators and the taxi lobby in Chicago, as new rules proposed by the commissioner of the City’s Department of Business of Affairs would make...
The next two years in Illinois
The next two years in Illinois
Neither Illinois Senate President John Cullerton nor House Speaker Mike Madigan will have a Republican boogeyman to point to when they speak to interest groups or members of their own caucuses.
Liberty Justice Center joins the fight to save Uber Chicago
Liberty Justice Center joins the fight to save Uber Chicago
Proposed rules and regulations would prohibit Uber
The progressive income tax: unfair, unstable, unresponsive and inefficient
The progressive income tax: unfair, unstable, unresponsive and inefficient
Gov. Pat Quinn and many groups in Illinois are pushing for the state’s next multibillion dollar tax increase – a progressive income tax. Passing a progressive income tax is “one of my goals before I stop breathing,” Quinn said. There has been a lot of misinformation about the progressive income tax floating around. It’s time to...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Obama’s likely to continue focusing on big government solutions for education
Obama’s likely to continue focusing on big government solutions for education
Unlike four years ago, a vote for the re-election of President Barack Obama was not about change. It was about maintaining the status quo. This is no truer than in the issue of education, where Obama will continue to use the federal government’s purse strings to incentivize states to pursue his top-down agenda. The two...
The progressive income tax: unfair, unstable, unresponsive and inefficient
The progressive income tax: unfair, unstable, unresponsive and inefficient
Gov. Pat Quinn and many groups in Illinois ares pushing for the state
With the election over, will Obama bail out Illinois pensions?
With the election over, will Obama bail out Illinois pensions?
President Barack Obama has won a second term, giving him what he described earlier this year as “more flexibility” in his policy choices. Will one of those choices be bailing out state pensions? All across the country, states are grappling with pension systems that are massively underfunded. Under new accounting rules, Illinois’ unfunded pension debt stands...
By Jonathan Ingram